Theme from Summer of 42

PROFILE

Composer

Michel Legrand

Lyricists

Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman

Year Written

1971

About Theme From Summer of ’42 (The Summer Knows)

The Summer of ’42 was released in 1971 and is a coming of age story about a teenager who becomes romantically involved with a woman whose husband is serving overseas in World War II. The melody of the song runs throughout the film. The song (and the film) became quite popular; the song became a pop standard with recordings by Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Bill Evans and, of course, Tony Bennett.

Lyrics

The summer smiles, the summer knows
And unashamed she sheds her clothes,
The summer smoothes the restless sky
And lovingly she warms the sand
On which you lie
The summer knows, the summer’s wise,
She sees the doubts within your eyes
And so she takes her summertime
Tells the moon to wait and the sun to linger
Twists the world round her summer finger
Lets you see the wonder of it all

And if you’ve learned your lesson well
There’s little more for her to tell
One last caress
It’s time to dress
For Fall.

The summer smiles, the summer knows
And unashamed she sheds her clothes,
One last caress
It’s time to dress
For Fall.

Session / Album Information

1971

“Summer of ’42” was recorded on November 15, 1971 and released the following year on the album Summer of ’42. It was arranged by Torrie Zito and produced by Teo Macero.